Assigned on: November 13, 2024
Reading “6 things designers should know about copyright”, I was already aware of some of this. That we have a copyright by default, I kinda had a hunch that a style wasn’t protected but sooner knew designs were, knew that reusing images wasn’t going to avoid triggering copyright, that something can be old enough to be out of copyright, using images that are available under a suitable Creative Commons license, or asking the copyright holder for permission (which could involve paying to use it as they can make that call). I also had a feeling that a client doesn’t get copyright unless the designer has it signed on paper that they do and such. I’ll keep this section in mind, most definitely: “Whatever you do, discuss this with the client at the start of your relationship. You won’t make any friends if you barge in with legal threats years later!” With what I’ve been taught, I don’t expect every client of mine to hear me out, I sooner expect they tell me what they want in a design, regardless of my professional input on it, to them I was only hired to make their vision, nothing else even if it could help with their business or so. Yet, I’ll also keep this in mind as well.
“If you get copied, you have leverage”, I kinda also had a feeling on, since I follow a lot of artists on social media where their art often gets stolen, where often the theft has consequences after them, whether it be legally, removal or it ruins their reputation in some way.
In fact, I’ve had someone use something of mine without permission, and while I approached them privately in DMs and got them to stop using it as a profile picture, they accused me of being angry. I wasn’t, I was calm (because I know some art theft are young people not knowing any better), but then they blocked me after saying that. Proving my point that I wasn’t the angry one in that situation.
But yeah, this was an interesting read. While I feel like I knew most of this in a sense, a form of a reminder refresher on topics like this isn’t bad to have.
